RPG Indie Zero Charisma Got Into SXSW Film Fest – Now If Only It Were Done

Back in 2011, filmmakers Andrew Matthews and Katie Graham wanted to make a movie about a Dungeons & Dragons Game Master who was feeling edged out by a cool new hipster in his tabletop world. They raised $25,000 on crowdfunding site IndieGoGo and got to work. Almost a year after filming, their flick will premiere at the South By Southwest film festival — if they can get it done.

The filming is done, the editing complete, but now the pair needs $30,000 to put on the final touches, like a color correct and sound mix. They also need to pay for music rights and for their composer’s original score, plus they need to handle legal fees and the marketing necessary to bring the movie to a film festival like SXSW. “These elements are no less important than any others in contributing to a successful film,” they note on the IndieGoGo page for their latest (and hopefully final) fund drive. “And the stakes have never been higher because the potential for success has never been so great.” Thirty grand may seem like a lot of cash, but it’s not easy to bring a film to a festival and their movie will be up against bigger titles like Joss Whedon’s Much Ado About Nothing in the war for people’s attention.

“The first time we crowd funded it was amazing because it felt like people were just coming out of the woodwork supporting us,” Graham said in an email to Wired. “Now we just hope we don’t disappoint those supporters.”

The filmmaking team previously worked together on the Troll 2 documentary Best Worst Movie and that film’s director — Troll 2 star Michael Stephenson — is an executive producer on Zero Charisma. The pair, who also worked on the haunted-house documentary The American Scream, were engaged at the time they started their latest film and have yet to tie the knot because of the rigors of completing Zero Charisma.

The movie was written by Matthews and developed with Graham and follows RPG nerd Scott Weidemeyer, who has his dominance as Game Master threatened by a handsome hipster named Miles. In between working at a local doughnut shop and taking gruff from his wise-cracking grandmother, Scott has one great power – and its on the tabletop. Having that dominance threatened sends him into a bit of a rage that could lead to drastic measures to reclaim his vaulted position. It’s a premise that touched the hearts of a lot of the original funding campaigns contributors – one big donor told Matthews “I’m a dungeon master and I work at a company that’s infested with hipsters, so thank you for making this movie” — and now the pair just hope a few more contributors will come through to see the movie to its finish.

In their current hometown of Austin, Texas, no less.

“We’ve been fans of the festival for a long time and have attended several times,” Graham said. “Getting into SXSW as directors is a dream come true. The line-up is incredible this year and we’re so honored to be a part of it.”